Bosnia’s laws on women’s representation on election lists look progressive; in reality, parties subvert them by burying women at the bottom of lists, so they don’t get elected.
On paper, Bosnia and Herzegovina boasts some of the most progressive gender representation mandates in the Western Balkans. Ahead of the current election, political parties have met the state’s legal requirement: that at least 40 per cent of candidates on their electoral lists belong to the less represented gender. Officially, women make up 42.2 per cent of all political hopefuls across the country.
But beneath this formal display of civilizational progress lies a bleaker administrative reality. Recent metrics released by the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina through its ongoing "Izvan Fokusa" (Out of Focus) monitoring campaign show women head just 15.5 per cent of all electoral lists. This is significant, as candidates topping lists are more likely to get elected than those lower down. Crucially, the share of female-led lists has plummeted by 6.1 percentage points compared to the 2022 general elections.
Subscribe to Balkan Insight Premium to read the full article.
Please login to your account below if you are already a Premium Subscriber.
Buy Premium Subscription
Our Premium Service gives you full access to all content published on BalkanInsight.com, including analyses, investigations, comments, interviews and more. Choose your subscription today and get unparalleled in-depth coverage of the Southern and Eastern Europe.
Buy Premium Subscription
If you have trouble logging in or any other questions regarding you account, please contact us